Desktop Delivery for a Distributed Enterprise

1. A system comprising: a plurality of computing devices; and a data center communicatively connected to the plurality of computing devices, wherein the data center comprises: a plurality of virtual disks, wherein a separate one of the plurality of virtual disks is associated with each separate computing device of the plurality of computing devices, wherein each virtual disk of the plurality of virtual disks comprises an image that includes: an Operating system (OS) for the associated computing device; one or more applications for a user of the computing device; a machine profile associated with the computing device; user data and settings that are specific for the user of the computing device; first logic which is stored in first storage medium and which, when executed at the data center, is operable at least to: send at least a bootable portion of the OS from the image to the computing device; wherein the bootable portion of the OS is stored in second non-volatile storage medium at the computing device, and the bootable portion of the OS is instantiated at the computing device based on the machine profile; wherein the bootable portion of the OS, which is instantiated and stored in the second non-volatile storage medium, is used to boot the computing device on the next reboot of the computing device; receive, from the computing device, changes made by the user on the second non-volatile storage medium at the computing device to each of the OS, the one or more applications, the machine profile, and the user data and settings; and update the image in the virtual disk corresponding the computing device by applying, at the data center, the changes to each of the OS, the one or more applications, the machine profile, and the user data and settings.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the image for the computing device includes a caching component, wherein the caching component is operable to store, in a cache at the computing device, the image and the changes made by the user at the computing device to each of the OS, the one or more applications, the machine profile, and the user data and settings.

3. The system as recited in claim 2 , wherein the changes made by the user at the computing device comprise one or more modifications to each of the OS, the one or more applications, the machine profile, and the user data and settings that are stored in the cache at the computing device; and the first logic is further operable to apply the one or more modifications to the image that is stored at the data center.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the OS for the computing device includes a critical boot set of the OS; the changes made by the user to the OS comprise one or more modifications to the critical boot set of the OS; and the first logic is further operable to apply the one or more modifications to the critical boot set of the OS that is included in the image for the computing device stored at the data center.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first logic is further operable to: receive, at the data center, user input that defines one or more operations on the virtual disk for the computing device; and perform, at the data center, the one or more operations on the virtual disk for the computing device.

6. The system as recited in claim 5 , wherein the one or more operations include one or more of: a backup operation; a virus-scanning operation; a validation operation that validates the integrity of the virtual disk; an install operation that installs a software application on the virtual disk; or a disk management operation for the virtual disk.

7. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first logic is further operable to: load, at the data center, the image for the computing device on a hardware device; and cause the hardware device to boot from the OS included in the image.

8. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the data center further comprises a plurality of machine profiles, wherein a separate one of the plurality of machine profiles is associated with each separate computing device of the plurality of computing devices; wherein the machine profile associated with the computing device includes configuration information specific to the computing device and to the user of the computing device; and the first logic is further operable to: receive, from the computing device, boot information that describes a critical boot set of the OS; and store the boot information in the machine profile associated with the computing device.

9. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the image comprised in the virtual disk for the computing device is a minimal image that includes only those applications and only those user data which are accessed most frequently by the user at the computing device.

10. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first logic is further operable to continuously maintain at least a current snapshot of the image for the computing device.

11. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the data center and the plurality of computing devices are communicatively connected over a Wide Area Network (WAN).

12. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of computing devices includes one or more of a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a wireless mobile device, or a virtual machine.

13. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the data center further comprises a base image that is shared by, and is common for, each separate virtual disk for each separate computing device of the plurality of computing devices.

14. The system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising second logic which is stored at each of the plurality of computing devices and which, when executed at the computing device, is operable at least to: receive the bootable portion of the OS and the rest of the image from the data center; store the image in the second non-volatile storage medium at the computing device; boot the computing device from the bootable portion of the OS that is stored in the second non-volatile storage medium; while the user is using the computing device, determine that the changes are made by the user to each of the OS, the one or more applications, the machine profile, and the user data and settings that are stored in the second non-volatile storage medium; while the user is using the computing device, send the changes to the data center and cause the image in the virtual disk corresponding to the computing device to be updated at the data center based on the changes.

15. The system as recited in claim 14 , wherein the image includes a caching component, wherein the caching component is operable to store, in a cache at the computing device, the image and the changes made by the user at the computing device to each of the OS, the one or more applications, the machine profile, and the user data and settings; wherein the changes made by the user at the computing device comprise one or more modifications to each of the OS, the one or more applications, the machine profile, and the user data and settings that are stored in the cache at the computing device; and wherein the second logic is further operable to: send the one or more modifications to the data center; and cause the image to be updated at the data center based on the one or more modifications.

16. The system as recited in claim 14 , wherein the second logic is further operable to receive, from the data center, one or more modifications to one or more of the OS and the one or more applications; apply the one or more modifications to update the one or more of the OS and the one or more applications that are stored in the second non-volatile storage medium at the computing device.

17. The system as recited in claim 14 , wherein the second logic is further operable to: determine a critical boot set of the OS at the computing device; and send, to the data center, boot information that describes the critical boot set of the OS.

18. The system as recited in claim 17 , wherein the second logic is further operable to: receive, from the data center, one or more modifications to the critical boot set of the OS; in order to generate an updated critical boot set of the OS, apply the one or more modifications to the OS that is stored in the second non-volatile storage medium at the computing device; and reboot the computing device from the updated critical boot set of the OS.

19. The system as recited in claim 14 , wherein the second logic is further operable to: allow the user of the computing device to cause one or more modifications to all files and configurations stored at the computing device; send the one or more modifications to the data center; and cause the virtual disk for the computing device to be updated at the data center based on the one or more modifications.

20. A computing device comprising: one or more processors; a non-volatile storage medium; and logic which is stored in the non-volatile storage medium and which, when executed by the one or more processors, is operable at least to: receive, over a network, an image for the computing device, wherein the image includes: at least a portion of an Operating system (OS), wherein the portion includes a critical boot set of the OS; one or more applications for a user of the computing device; user data that is specific for the user of the computing device; and a machine profile comprising driver configurations for OS drivers, application configurations of the one or more applications, and user configurations of the OS that are specific to the user; store the portion of the OS, the one or more user applications, the user data, and the machine profile in the non-volatile storage medium; instantiate the image based on the machine profile; boot the computing device from the portion of the OS that is stored in the non-volatile storage medium; while the user is using the computing device, determine that changes are made and stored by the user to each one of the portion of the OS, the one or more applications, the user data, and the machine profile that are stored in the non-volatile storage medium; and while the user is using the computing device, send the changes over the network in order to cause the image to be updated based on the changes.

21. The computing device as recited in claim 20 , wherein a single OS is installed on the computing device, and wherein the portion of the OS included in the image is part of the single OS installed on the computing device.

22. The computing device as recited in claim 20 , wherein the machine profile included in the image comprises hardware configurations of one or more hardware components that are configured specifically for the computing device.

23. The computing device as recited in claim 20 , wherein the logic is further operable to receive one or more remaining portions of the OS while the user is using the computing device.

24. The computing device as recited in claim 20 , wherein the logic is further operable to request and receive one or more remaining portions of the OS in response to input from the user, wherein the input specifies one or more operations that attempt to access the one or more remaining portions of the OS.

25. The computing device as recited in claim 20 wherein, while the user is using the computing device, the logic is further operable to receive, over the network, one or more modifications to the critical boot set of the OS; in order to generate an updated critical boot set of the OS, apply the one or more modifications to the portion of the OS that is stored in the non-volatile storage medium at the computing device; reboot the computing device from the updated critical boot set of the OS.

26. The computing device as recited in claim 20 , wherein the logic operable to instantiate the image is operable to perform one or more of: instantiate the OS drivers based on the driver configurations included in the machine profile; instantiate the one or more applications based on the application configurations included in the machine profile; instantiate the portion of the OS with one or more machine identifiers that are included in the machine profile.

27. The computing device as recited in claim 20 , wherein the computing device is one of a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a wireless mobile device, or a virtual machine.

28. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising first logic which, when executed by one or more processors at a data center that is communicatively connectable to a plurality of computing devices, is operable at least to: send at least a bootable portion of an Operating System(OS) from an image to a computing device of the plurality of computing devices, wherein the image includes: the OS for the computing device; one or more applications for a user of the computing device; a machine profile associated with the computing device; user data and settings that are specific for the user of the computing device; wherein the data center comprises a separate virtual disk for each separate computing device of the plurality of computing devices, wherein a virtual disk for the computing device comprises the image; wherein the bootable portion of the OS is stored in second non-volatile storage medium at the computing device, and the bootable portion of the OS is instantiated at the computing device based on the machine profile; wherein the bootable portion of the OS, which is instantiated and stored in the second non-volatile storage medium, is used to boot the computing device on the next reboot of the computing device; receive, from the computing device, changes made by the user on the second non-volatile storage medium at the computing device to each of the OS, the one or more applications, the machine profile, and the user data and settings; update the image in the virtual disk for the computing device by applying, at the data center, the changes to each of the OS, the one or more applications, and the user data.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 28 , wherein the image for the computing device includes a caching component, wherein the caching component is operable to store, in a cache at the computing device, the image and the changes made by the user at the computing device to each of the OS, the one or more applications, the machine profile, and the user data.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 29 , wherein the changes made by the user at the computing device comprise one or more modifications to each of the OS, the one or more applications, the machine profile, and the user data and settings that are stored in the cache at the computing device; wherein the first logic, when executed by the one or more processors at the data center, is further operable to apply the one or more modifications to the image that is stored at the data center.

31. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 28 , further comprising second logic that is installable at each of the plurality of computing devices, wherein the second logic when executed at the computing device is operable at least to: receive the bootable portion of the OS and the rest of the image from the data center; store the image in the second non-volatile storage medium at the computing device; boot the computing device from the bootable portion of the OS that is stored in the second non-volatile storage medium; while the user is using the computing device, determine that the changes are made by the user to each of the OS, the one or more applications, the machine profile, and the user data and settings that are stored in the second non-volatile storage medium; while the user is using the computing device, send the changes to the data center and cause the image in the virtual disk for the computing device to be updated at the data center based on the changes.

32. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising logic which, when executed by one or more processors at a computing device, is operable at least to: receive, over a network, an image for the computing device, wherein the image includes: at least a portion of an Operating system (OS), wherein the portion includes a critical boot set of the OS; one or more applications for a user of the computing device; user data that is specific for the user of the computing device; and a machine profile comprising driver configurations for OS drivers, application configurations of the one or more applications, and user configurations of the OS that are specific to the user; store the portion of the OS, the one or more user applications, the user data, and the machine profile in the non-volatile storage medium; instantiate the image based on the machine profile; boot the computing device from the portion of the OS that is stored in the non-volatile storage medium; while the user is using the computing device, determine that changes are made and stored by the user to each one of the portion of the OS, the one or more applications, the user data, and the machine profile that are stored in the non-volatile storage medium; and while the user is using the computing device, send the changes over the network in order to cause the image to be updated based on the changes.

33. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 32 , wherein a single OS is installed on the computing device, and wherein the portion of the OS included in the image is part of the single OS installed on the computing device.